Benítez rues errors after Liverpool crash to 5-0 defeat

Liverpool's preparations for Wednesday's Champions League qualifier against Maccabi Haifa suffered a blow last night with a 5-0 defeat to unheralded FSV Mainz in Germany.

Fielding a team that included their new signings Jermaine Pennant and Craig Bellamy, the visitors let slip the best chance of a goalless first half when Steven Gerrard beat two defenders with his run into the area only to shoot wide.

The Bundesliga club capitalised on several half-time substitutions by Rafael Benítez with goals from Markus Feulner, Tobias Damm, Ranislav Jovanovic, Chadli Amri and Fatmir Pupalovic. It was Liverpool's third successive friendly defeat, prompting Benítez to concede that his players were making too many errors.

"The only positive to take from the game in Mainz is that it was a pre-season match," he said. "It is clear that we made a lot of mistakes and gifted them a lot of goals but it wasn't an official game. In the first half I thought we were the stronger side but after the break we made too many mistakes. We need to analyse why things have been going wrong and work hard to fix them.

"When we get home we can start a new week with a new mentality and and I'm sure we will be much better on Wednesday when the official games begin."

Meanwhile Bolo Zenden says Liverpool players are unanimous that their match against Maccabi Haifa should not be played in Israel. "It's clear we don't want to go to Israel. Obviously nobody wants to go," said the Anfield midfielder.

"I was at Chelsea a few years ago when there was some controversy over a European game and at that time I decided I would go to Tel Aviv. Several other players decided not to go. That was a long time ago but the situation is much different this time. At that time the issue was the build-up to the Gulf War and whether something might happen in Israel; now it's a war directly impacting on the country."

Uefa will reveal on Monday where the second-leg tie will be played. There is a suggestion it could be in Ukraine.

Ben Thatcher was sent off for a second bookable offence in Manchester City's 1-0 victory over the Chinese Super League side Shanghai Shenhua, won with a goal by Georgios Samaras in the 35th minute. David James - a reported transfer target for Portsmouth - was left out in favour of Nicky Weaver.

Tottenham's summer signing Dimitar Berbatov is looking forward to making an early return to Germany today, spearheading the attack against Borussia Dortmund. "It will be a difficult game but we will have opportunities to score and I'm sure we can beat them," the Bulgarian said.